TEHRAN, May 19 (MNA) – Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said Sat. that the European Union will stand firm against Washington’s pressures on the bloc to prevent Europe from doing business with Iran.

The EU’s top energy official made the remarks in a joint press conference with the Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday in Tehran.

“We still wish to continue our economic cooperation with Iran under the implementation of the JCPOA,” he said. “We believe that the JCPOA economic benefits will serve both EU’s and Iran’s interests, and that is why the EU’s energy commission has planned certain mechanisms to facilitate the realization of these goals.”

He also noted that the EU has decided to reactivate the ‘blocking statute’, a 1996 law that would allow the bloc to protect European companies that may be sanctioned by US for doing business with Iran.

“We, as the European Union, will try to neutralize the effects of sanctions or pressures imposed by Washington against European companies,” he said. “Our goal is to follow up and regulate the economic cooperation with Iran through legal channels.”

According to him, the EU will continue its nuclear energy cooperation with Iran, particularly with regards to Iran’s nuclear safety center; “we will continue our cooperation with Iran within the framework of international law, because we know that Iran has been fully in compliance with all agreements with the IAEA,” he said.

He further added that Iran and EU could hold joint seminars on nuclear energy cooperation, stressing that the bloc would make every effort to live up to its commitments regarding Iran.